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The PPP, with the help of a lazy opposition, continues to circumvent the public procurement process

Dec 09, 2012 Letters

 

Dear Editor,
I will try to hit two birds with one stone here. First, in your news article, “NIS operating in the red- GM tells consultation,” (December 8), nothing was ever mentioned about the status of the government’s replenishment of the US$30M or GY$6B that NIS lost in the Clico collapse, or the roughly US$30,000 or GY$6M government took from NIS to help build the Berbice Bridge.
Those being consulted need to ask whether these monies taken from the NIS have helped to negatively impact the institutions’ performance and what is being done, if anything, to make sure all the money is restored with interest immediately to help take the NIS out of the red.
Maybe it is time for citizens to file a series of class action law suits against the corrupt PPP regime for the misappropriations of public funds at NIS and a host of other areas, because it is obvious that one set of people keep profiting from state misadventures with public funds, while the masses are treated like fifth-class citizens.
That brings me to the second news article, “Presidential Advisor announces… Cabinet grants no objection for more contracts,” (December 8), in which Presidential Advisor, Ms. Gail Teixeira, filling in for HPS, Dr. Roger Luncheon at the weekly press briefings, listed a number of contracts that she said were approved after Cabinet granted its usual no objection.
For the longest while, I am having grave difficulty understanding how a Cabinet – made up of ministers handpicked by the President – can have the legal authority to grant no-objection waivers for public contracts involving state funds without there being any independent checks and balance system to make sure the contracts and or the contractors pass the smell test, given the growing mountain of evidence pointing to questionable contracts and contractors, as per the Auditor-General’s reports.
The PPP, with the help of a seemingly lazy opposition, continues to openly circumvent the public procurement process, even after all the shocking exposes done in the media about this rampant abuse and even after the November 28, 2011 election that was supposed to allow the parliamentary opposition to use its majority to start holding the government accountable.
Mr. Editor, I challenge you or any reader to go back and read the article and see where the government has basically said that it went to ‘Cabinet’ and got approval to spend GY$475,924M for a variety of projects, plus an additional US$609,820 for two other projects, and there was absolutely no way of the public benefiting from a stringent checks and balance system that would have allowed someone other than the government and ‘Cabinet’ to ascertain the veracity of the contracts/projects and the contractors. This is mind-numbingly shocking!
It is almost predictable for readers in and out of Guyana to wake up and read the daily ripping off of state funds by contractors, clearly aided by the corrupt PPP regime, and it has literally reached the point where we have to conclude the PPP regime does not care what anyone says about its corrupt practices because there is no one who can do anything to stop it.
Kaieteur News and Stabroek News can report the stories and letter writers and analysts can write and analyze ‘til kingdom come, the PPP seems determined to keep on keeping on with its bullying and corrupt ways.
I wonder how many of those contractors who received billions of dollars in state contracts while operating in Guyana have paid taxes or into the NIS. Does the GRA only go after political opponents of the government? Maybe it is time President Donald Ramotar to snap out of his slumber party, even if for the one moment, and get the GRA and NIS to form a team to go after all these state contractors. We just might find a gold mine to make the GRA and NIS smile and also put a smile on the faces of NIS beneficiaries.
Emile Mervin

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